272As a special birthday gift from me to the fans, I'm posting at least two new chapters and making a drabble a full story!
Ichigo woke up with a horrible pain in her abdomen. It was like a sharp knife twisting in her gut. Her usual lazy exterior disappeared in seconds the moment she discovered blood where it shouldn't be.
She came down, looking rather panicky. Gon immediately tilted his head.
"Why do I smell blood?"
As one, Kikyo, Inko and Mito all gave sympathetic grimaces.
"Ichigo, do you have any pain in your stomach by any chance?" asked her mother.
She nodded.
"She is about that age, and the training she's been doing would cause it to begin sooner rather than later," said Kikyo.
"What's going on?" demanded Killua.
"Just something all girls go through once they've reached a certain age. You two will go through something similar, but it won't involve nearly as much bloodshed," said Mito cryptically.
"Is she going into heat? She smells a lot like the animals do during mating season," said Gon.
Ichigo had never wanted to smack her cousin more than at that moment. After thinking about it, she finally had a clue as to what the hell was happening to her.
"I'm starting puberty, you idiot!" her face completely red from embarrassment. Killua blushed a bit at that. Now he understood what was going on and knew enough that he wanted no part of it.
He grabbed Gon's arm.
"Come on, I'll explain it to you. Just avoid her whenever she smells like that," said Killua sagely.
"What's going on with Ichigo? Why is she bleeding?" asked Gon concerned.
Killua kept his mouth shut, not wanting to invoke the ire of an already mortified Ichigo and highly amused trio of older women.
On the plus side, Ichigo would be able to join the boys at York New for at least two months. On the downside, it meant she would have to wait at least three months before she could resume her previous level of training, as it was very unwise to have a female assassin undergo the amount of stress they would be putting her through while she was settling into puberty.
It had a high risk of causing her growth to be stunted or cause some rather unpleasant side effects, such as rendering her sterile by accident...particularly since she was learning how to specialize in poisons to compliment the ability she gained from starting the conversion into full fairy.
Gon came back slightly confused while Killua looked like he had a massive headache.
A few hours later...
Ichigo came up to the boy's room and happened to overhear something she found of interest.
"Why do you need a Joystation all of a sudden?" she asked.
"Ging left a memory card for one, and we need it to find out what's on it," said Killua.
"You know you could have just asked to borrow mine. Gon might not have played many games, but I at least took an interest in them...especially after that minor training accident left me bedridden for three weeks because of a broken leg," said Ichigo.
Killua perked up at that.
"What sort of games?"
Ichigo retrieved her console and the few games she had for it. She had been too busy training with King and Gon to really play them outside of the time she broke her leg.
Killua placed the memory card into the console...and it came up with only ONE game.
"What's Greed Island?" asked Gon.
Ichigo made a face.
"Ugh, I've heard of that game. King complained about it once or twice...apparently some Nen expert with a weird quirk managed to make a pseudo reality based on video games for Hunters, and he accidentally trapped several fairies into it. King still hasn't tracked down that game to get them out," said Ichigo.
Killua and Gon latched on to this news.
"Did he say anything else?"
"It's super rare because most Hunters tend to buy it up immediately because it has a high difficulty level and it's considered a good training tool for Nen. Add on the fact that most collectors would literally kill for such a rare and unique game and the difficulty factor in actually obtaining a copy goes up exponentially. There's also the fact it has unique, one of a kind items inside that you can't get anywhere else," said Ichigo.
Gon looked down. This sounded like there was no way to find Ging anytime soon.
"On the other hand..." said Ichigo, which made Gon perk up, "There is a known owner of the game who wants the clear data for the game and is willing to allow people to enter Greed Island provided they prove they have the right qualifications to actually survive it. If you can get to a level that satisfies their requirements, I'm sure you could use that method to enter the pseudo reality. It's certainly easier and considerably cheaper than trying to buy the game."
"Do you know who the owner is? Or what the requirements are?" asked Killua.
"No, but King did mention that he usually posts the offer often enough at York New. Which means we should have a chance to get into the game," said Ichigo.
"We?" said Killua.
"My training is being put on hold because I hit puberty. I need a few months of low-level training before they can ramp it up again, in order to let my body start the transition into maturity. Particularly since I've also started the conversion into fairy, rather than human," explained Ichigo.
Killua relaxed...while he still didn't get why his mother was training Ichigo, the idea of them lowering the level of training because of her hitting puberty and needing to settle into a new normal made a lot of sense. Though it really begged the question why they cared about her enough to worry about her somehow turning sterile in the first place.
"So whoever earns the most cash before we go to York New is the winner?" said Ichigo.
Killua nodded eagerly. It was a bet Gon was certain to lose. Gon just looked like he was having fun.
"I'm in."
"Losers have to follow the winner's order for a full day," said Killua.
"Oh you two are going down," said Ichigo. "I foresee a great deal of shopping hell and matching outfits in your future."
Killua had that weird shiver again, and he still didn't know why. It wasn't a good shiver, but one that said his mother was conspiring against him again.
"Let the games begin!" said Killua.
One week later...
"HOW? How did you earn over a half a billion when we were lucky to get a few million?" demanded Killua, irate.
Ichigo just looked unbearably smug.
"You two underestimate how much people are willing to pay for a comprehensive and complete quirk analysis from a legitimate hunter."
Killua...looked like he wanted to kick himself. He forgot how thorough and detailed Ichigo's quirk analysis could be, and there were plenty of people who would see the hunter's license and trust the source.
Ichigo looked incredibly smug as she continued.
"I merely charged an escalating rate for a detailed analysis and suggested methods of improving one's quirk. The more detailed the packet, the higher the rate. Netero tested me before we left Zaban city originally and he was more than happy to vet me when I explained about the bet. With his endorsement, there were several hunters more than happy to hand over large amounts of cash for a quirk analysis," said Ichigo.
Killua fumed.
"Coincidentally..."
He felt a sudden surge of dread.
"Your mother was more than happy to 'convince' Illumi to stalk us for the day in order to get many amusing blackmail pics when we hit the clothing stores. She was thrilled at the idea of us in matching outfits," said Ichigo wickedly.
Killua groaned.
"Wait, how did she convince Illumi to follow us for photos?" asked Gon.
"She said she would shut up about grandchildren on his end for the next year if he agreed to do it," deadpanned Ichigo. "I believe he was rather eager to agree once he heard that."
Killua snorted.
"He would be. There's an ongoing bet between my siblings that he's gay, since I was chosen as heir over him," said Killua. "Dad's sure he has a boyfriend, or at least a male lover, but so far none of us have been able to get out who it is yet."
"...I bet you ten thousand it's Hisoka," said Ichigo.
Killua grimaced.
"What makes you say that?" asked Gon.
"You didn't notice how chummy they were during the exam? Out of all the people there he never looked at Illumi like he wanted to take him apart in as bloody a method as possible to find out if he was a worthy opponent," said Ichigo.
"Why are you so dead set on matching outfits anyway?"
"Have you seen Gon's wardrobe?" said Ichigo. "The only reason I haven't done anything about it before is because there's a limited selection on Whale Island and because anything I would buy would end up as scraps in less than a month."
Killua snickered while Gon looked confused.
"What's wrong with my clothes?" he asked.
"Gon, Aunt Mito bought them for durability, rather than appearance. It was rather pointless to get more than the cheap brands considering how much of a wild child you are and how quickly they'd end up ruined with your forays into the forest. I mean they're alright for playing around in or training, but for going out they look ridiculous," said Ichigo flatly.
Killua nodded sagely.
"Any decent restaurant or high class establishment would probably laugh you out if it wasn't for the hunter's license," said Killua. "They look rather cartoony, to say the least."
"Which is why I'm dragging you two through some clothing stores for a bit of an upgrade. Killua isn't too bad, but you need a new wardrobe. Besides, most of your things are overdue for a replacement since you're due for a growth spurt soon," said Ichigo sagely.
Gon didn't really get it, but with Killua and Ichigo in agreement over the matter there was little he could do.
"Best of all, since you're both young and strong I can drag you through any number of stores and have you carry the bags," said Ichigo wickedly.
Killua gave the sigh of the damned while Gon tilted his head in confusion over why his best friend looked resigned to a rather nightmarish day.
Then again, he had never seen either of his aunts powershop with Ichigo...especially over clothes.
In the Zoldyck mansion...
Silva was alerted to something happening by Kikyo's delighted squeal.
Zeno had a mixture of amusement and grimace, and made a beeline for his son.
"Illumi's back. Apparently Killua's prospective bribe tricked him and her cousin into matching outfits," he explained.
As much as Silva wanted to see that, he was not going near his wife when she was cooing over the pictures. He wanted to retain his sanity, thank you very much.
On Whale Island, Mito and Inko were doing the same thing as Kikyo. The three women had formed an unusual alliance and were happy to share as many adorable pictures as possible of the possible couple.
"Yo. What happened to you two?" asked Leorio.
Ichigo looked downright smug.
"These two lost a bet over who could make the most money in a week, so I took them powershopping over clothes. On the plus side, Gon has some decent outfits now and a new pair of boots," said Ichigo pleased.
Leorio winced at the implications.
"You poor bastards," he said with genuine sympathy.
"It gets worse...my brother Illumi was blackmailed into taking pictures for my mother," said Killua.
"How have you been?" asked Gon, quickly changing the subject. He never knew his cousin could be even more terrifying outside of a fight she took seriously.
Leorio cheerfully chats with them before realizing something important.
"Where's Ichigo?"
"She said she was going to explore. I have her number for when we plan to meet up later," said Killua.
With Ichigo...
York New was so interesting! And best of all she had enough cash to properly enjoy being a tourist.
After hearing what the boy's plans were, Silva had approved of her staying with them since the skill level required to survive Greed Island was right about the same level that she needed to be at anyway.
Best of all, it meant large quantities of time would be spent around Killua, and would hopefully foster some interest in her as a female. With any luck he would come to see her as a possible girlfriend on his own terms before they alerted him to the betrothal contract they had already drafted.
Things were so much easier when both parties cooperated.
It was as she was exploring that she heard a girl muttering to herself in a language she hadn't heard in quite some time. At least, not unless it was between her and her mother.
What was a Japanese girl doing all the way in America?
